


Unheeded

by versigny



Series: Halloween Drabbles 2k17 [5]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Romance, Drabble, Eldritch, F/M, Halloween, Horror, Surreal, Trick or Treating, transfer student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 08:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12477336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/versigny/pseuds/versigny
Summary: In which Wen Junhui was more peculiar than you could have ever fathomed.No, really.





	Unheeded

**Author's Note:**

> PROMPT: Eldritch! Jun for the Halloween prompts ??? U would make my year kdjsjdkfjsnkdjk
> 
> (i had so much fun writing this omg)

“I never asked where you transferred from, I think,” you smiled softly at the boy beside you dressed in, well, black. If someone had asked you what you’d be doing for Halloween this year, you’re pretty sure the answer wouldn’t have been “dorm trick-or-treating with the quiet new kid whom you were assigned to be his student guide since you signed up for volunteer hours”.

Wen Junhui was a peculiar one, fresh from somewhere far across the country and seas. Everything from his face to his physique  _screamed_  male model, but he was withdrawn, meek, unsure – and sometimes, if you stared at him a little too long, he seemed to change. Odd shadows hung in the hollows of his skin, and the light seemed to shift in his eyes in the black parts of his pupil and the freckles of his irises in a way that made you feel cold and fidgety, like you were seeing something you weren’t supposed to see.

You chalked it up to New Kid Prejudice and swore to double down your efforts to include him.

“I don’t think you’d know it,” he answered sympathetically, and you had to crane your head up to look at him. He had made some sort of effort to be… something (maybe you should have given him a Dracula cape and pretend he was a vampire), since he didn’t exactly know what Halloween was, and you had simply thrown on your old Alice dress and called it a day. Somehow his outfit just worked, though.

“Hey, I won my school’s geography bee when I was in the sixth grade, I will have you know! Is it very far away?”

You quickly chanted a “trick or treat” at another door, but were only paying attention to your ward. His expressions were – charming, somehow, in their reserved way. It made him interesting to read.

You dearly hoped you weren’t overcompensating.

“Very,” he affirmed, cocking his head cutely at his pillow case containing a small stash of treats. “And it’s hard to get to. I think I like this strange season. It reminds me of home.”

Jun’s admission came so suddenly you had to do a double-take to grasp what he’d said so casually.

“Really?” You hoped also that your enthusiasm wasn’t too much, but you couldn’t help it – you were actually quite glad he seemed to be enjoying himself. Relief and pleasure warmed your nerves and you kept on, “How so? Do you have a similar holiday to this one? Or is it just the weather?”

“Every day is like this one,” Jun explains, laughing gently. He’s giving you a look like you’ve said something very silly without knowing it, and you feel your cheeks heat – though it’s not so bad.

“I… don’t understand,” you admit sheepishly. More candy is unceremoniously dumped into your bags by drunk students, and you’ve abruptly reached the end of the hall where the exit is. There’s still one more building to go, and Jun is polite enough to hold the door open for you.

You’re polite enough to ignore the little flutter your heart does in response.

It’s dark outside, sans the faint illumination of distant lamps; most students are at parties and other parts of campus. The walkway to the next stop is empty and lined with bushes and pumpkins, and just when you think Jun has decided to go back to not talking again he stops suddenly, taking pause to lean down and pick up what looks to be a dulled piece of broken glass.

“What’s wrong?” you ask, voice catching. You’re confused, more than anything – he has a perfectly inquisitive look on his face as he scrutinizes the object, and you’re about to tell him that there’s a trash can just up ahead when he turns to you.

There’s that odd blackness in his eyes again. But maybe it’s just because it’s so late.

“This is one of the ways I can get home,” he explains, offering the glass delicately between his long fingers. For not the first time, you feel like you’re definitely missing something, and reach out to accept the shard only to find that he hasn’t let it go. “Old mirrors work best. But things like this work, too, just a little bit. See?”

 

Later, when you’re curled up in bed with your eyes wide open and heart hammering in your chest, you question your sanity. You go over in your head, over and over, what you had seen and experienced and  _felt_  – the oily blackness, the writhing, a darkness darker than just the absence of light – and stumble back and forth between delirium and disbelief.

Because there is no way the transfer student has spines and speaks a language that you can only hear in your skull and makes you feel like your organs are failing. There is no way in hell. Transfer students cannot show you small portals to other dimensions in pieces of soiled glass on university grounds. Transfer students don't have extra appendages. Reality doesn’t work like that.

But maybe you just don’t know what reality is.

Your nerves give in at some point and exhaustion takes you before your rampant thoughts can.

You don’t question the way tucking your head under your blanket where it’s dark feels like someone is there with you, keeping you safe and warm.

 

_(“Sleep well, little one.”)_


End file.
